# A Database of Flare Ribbon Properties From Solar Dynamics Observatory I: Reconnection Flux **Authors:** Maria D. Kazachenko, Benjamin J. Lynch, Brian T. Welsch, Xudong Sun arXiv: 1704.05097 · 2017-08-23 ## TL;DR This paper introduces a comprehensive database of over 3000 solar flare events observed by SDO, analyzing the relationships between X-ray flux, magnetic reconnection flux, and flare properties to understand flare energetics. ## Contribution The study provides the first extensive database linking flare ribbon properties with X-ray flux and establishes a power-law distribution of flare energies. ## Key findings - Peak X-ray flux correlates strongly with flare ribbon reconnection flux. - The relationship between X-ray flux and reconnection flux follows a power-law: I_X,peak ∝ Φ_ribbon^1.5. - Flare energy occurrence frequency follows a power-law: dN/dE ∝ E^−1.6. ## Abstract We present a database of 3137 solar flare ribbon events corresponding to every flare of GOES class C1.0 and greater within 45 degrees from the central meridian, from April 2010 until April 2016, observed by the \emph{Solar Dynamics Observatory}. For every event in the database, we compare the GOES peak X-ray flux with corresponding active-region and flare-ribbon properties. We find that while the peak X-ray flux is not correlated with the active region unsigned magnetic flux, it is strongly correlated with the flare ribbon reconnection flux, flare ribbon area, and the fraction of active region flux that undergoes reconnection. We find the relationship between the peak X-ray flux and the flare ribbon reconnection flux to be $I_\mathrm{X,peak} \propto \Phi_\mathrm{ribbon}^{1.5}$. This scaling law is consistent with earlier hydrodynamic simulations of impulsively heated flare loops. Using the flare reconnection flux as a proxy for the total released flare energy $E$, we find that the occurrence frequency of flare energies follows a power-law dependence: $dN/dE \propto E^{-1.6}$ for $10^{31}